Improvement in street-car starters



UNITED STATES PATENT QEEIoE.

HARVEY FOWLER, OF WASHINGTON, DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA.

IMPROVEMENT IN STREET-CAR STARTERS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 154,752, dated September 8, 1874; application filed- June 16', 1874.

To all whom it may concern:

' ever heavily loaded it may be, thus relieving the team from the strain of its initial motion.

The principal point involved in this invention is the application and use of a claspingfoot which is fastened upon the ground and serves as a fulcrum for levers, jointed orotherwise, guarded and regulated by springs to be operated by the driver, as inthe case of the car-brake.

In the drawing, Figure 1 is an end view; Fig. 2, a longitudinal elevation.

A transverse bar or roller, A, placed underneath the forward part of the front platform of the car having one or more jointed levers, L L, attached to the same, and reaching backward and downward to the ground. The connection of the jointed leverswith the roller or bar is efi'ected by means of slots, at a, formed on the ends of the said jointed levers so that they may slide backward and forward for a limited distance on the roller or bar A, and a spiral spring or its equivalent is placed within said slot to press forward against said roller and backward against the jointed lever.- A pitman, P, is hinged on the jointed lever at or near the junction of its two arms, and the top of the same is connected by a hinged joint with a horizontal arm or bar, 1), extending from the top of the car-body, (to which it is also hinged,) to or beyond the top of the pit: man; and the extremity of said bar is connected by cord, rope, or belt, with a pulley or roller, 1', supported on bearings on the front part of the platform, at a convenient height, to be operated by the driver by means of a hand-crank, k, attached to the same. These jointed levers may be duplicated if desired.

The extremity of the jointed lever which reaches the ground when in use, is supplied with a clasping stilt-foot, F, which is a modification of the stilt-foot patented by me December 12th, 1871, (see Patent No. 121,713,) and, of course, is not again claimed in this case. The jointed lever is designed to be placed beneath the front platform of the car, and the pitman will pass through an opening in the platform, and if it is desired to carry the apparatus, when not in use, free from the ground, "6. 0. so as not to trail upon the ground, a spring may be placed under the arm or bar 12, or an elastic cord may be attached to a spur, u, as in the drawing, to restore the original position of the jointed lever after the expansion of the same, by means of the pressure brought to bear upon it, which, together with a check-rod or guard, g, underneath the jointed lever, at the junction of the two arms of the same, will serve to elevate the whole from the ground, and to retain the same suspended while the car is in motion, and until the pressure is again applied. The same method is observed when all the apparatus is beneath the platform.

What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

The jointed levers L L, in combination with foot F, pitman P, and rod 1', springs 8, rod 1), and cord 0, as and for the purpose setforth.

HARVEY FOWLER.

Witnesses:

Enw. W. DoNN, M. GARDNER. 

